The present invention relates generally to control systems, and more particularly to model predictive control employing novel techniques for optimizing drying processes, such as the drying of biofuel stillage products between parallel paths.
Many processing plants, such as biofuel production plants, include separation and drying processes which may use centrifuges, dryers, evaporators, and so forth. These processes may separate solids from liquids as well as remove water from the solid and liquid products. As these plants expand, multiple parallel paths for the separation and drying processes may be used. This type of expansion may allow for increased throughput. In addition, this expansion may be integrated into the current plant to allow for flexibility in operating paths. This cross-integration in plant expansions is not uncommon as this provides the plant operating flexibility and the ability to shut sections of the plant down without shutting the entire plant down. However, when this type of expansion is implemented, plant operators may be presented with control issues regarding how to distribute flow rates through the parallel paths. In particular, the equipment in the parallel paths may not always be characterized by the same performance profiles and efficiencies. Therefore, simply routing proportional flow rates through the parallel paths (e.g., 20% flow rate through each of five parallel paths) may not be the most desirable control scheme.